The wrestling world is still mourning Death of Benjamin Satterly, who was best known as PAC and Adrian Neville in AEW and WWE respectively. Since his death, PAC’s career has come into focus as people highlight his most important matches and moments, but one moment that flew under the radar was discussed by Dave Meltzer in the “recent” edition.Wrestling Observer Radio.“
A week before the inauguration AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view in 2019PAC faced Hangman Page at an independent event in Nottingham, England, considered by many to be the first unofficial match in AEW history. The match between PAC and Page was supposed to take place at Double or Nothing, but PAC was not in Las Vegas for that show for two reasons, which Meltzer detailed.
“There was a visa issue and he basically wouldn’t do the job and it was a match where I think Tony (Khan) didn’t want to open… I think the number one contenders match with Adam Page and PAC was supposed to be a pay-per-view to set up (Chris) Jericho and Adam Page when they showed (the next one). Paige made the match a secret, which Paige won again, she wouldn’t do the job because she was the Dragon Gate Champion.
Meltzer explained that one of the reasons PAC never did many interviews after leaving WWE was because he wanted to keep kayfabe alive for himself and the companies he worked for. He didn’t want to lose by introducing Dragon Gate as their champion, so he refused to work with anyone until he finished his commitments with Dragon Gate in late 2019. Edge would eventually get his win over PAC at AEW Full Gear 2019an event that occurred after PAC dropped the title in Japan.
Please credit Wrestling Observer Radio when using quotes from this article and give H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
